Improvement in machines for tapping nuts



s. LQwonsLEY.

Machine for Tapping Nuts.

No. 166,490, ParenredAug.1o,1 875.

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UNITED STATES SAMUEL L. WORSLEY, OF PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO THE AMERICAN SCREW COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR TAPPING NUTS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 166,490, dated August l0, 1875; application filed v June 7,1875.

To all whom t may concern: l

Be it known that I, SAMUEL L. WoRsLEY, of the city and county of Providence, in the Stateof Rhode Island, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Tapping N uts; and I do hereby declare that the following specification, taken in connection with the drawings making a part ofthe same, is a full, clear, and exact description thereof'.

Figure l is a top view. Fig'. 2 isa side elevation. 'Fig. 3 is a viewin section of a portion' of the feeding-stack and the let-oi'contrivance.

The machine hereinafter described, in some of its features, is similar to other machines used in the manufacture of screws. It is, however, specially contrived for tapping the threads in nuts,and the means by which a continuous supply of blanks is fed one at a time, so as to be threaded by a tap, and discharged from the machine in case they have been threaded, but not otherwise, constitute the subjects to which my improvements relate.

In the drawings, A represents the bed of the machine. B is the driving-shaft, to which the power is applied. The driving-shaft carries a bevel-gear, C, which, engaging with a fellow gear, D, gives motion to a transverse shaft, upon the other end of which is a .bevel-gear, E, Fig. 2, which engages with two bevel-pinions, F F', tted to constantly revolve in opposite directions around the shaft G. This latter shaft carries the thread-cutting tap c, and it is arranged so as to he capable of an endwise movement in its bearings and through the pinions F F', for the purpose of enabling the tap to be brought up to and pass through the nut-blank to be threaded, and to move back to allow of the presentation of a new blank. The drivingshaft B also carries a worm-wheel, H, Fig. l, which engages with a worm-gear, H', and gives motion to atransverse shaft, J, underneath the' to the machine instead of screw-blanks is one of the features of the present invention.

.As in the case when screw-blanks are to be fed, the nut-blanks are placed in a mass in the dish M', which is made to revolve in a horizontal plane by means of the bevel-gears b c, deriving motion from the shaft K, communicated' by the belt d and pulleys e f. The separator N has an alternately upward and downward `movement in a vertical plane imparted to it by means of the lifter-rod ,r/operated by a camtoe on the revolving shaft h and the arm i, attached at one end to the lifter-rod, and at the other end toa crank-arm, 7c, on a shaft,to which the separator is keyed in a manner well under"- stood. L -f L y In order to adapt the separator for use in selecting nut-blanks instead of screw-blanks from a mass, the end of the separator which is dipped into the mass of blanks in the revolving dishis made shovel-shaped, as seen at m, Fig. l. A mortise, n, is also out through the blade of the shovel large enough to allow a blank which is taken up edgewise to fall through it. In combination, also, with the end ofthe separator as thus constructed is a guard, o, having two vertical sidesand a back piece, while the bottom ofthe separatoris excavated so as to make aaring groove to guide the blanks to the railwayguide in the separator, along which latter it is intended the blanks shall slide when the shovel end of the separator is elevated, and be conducted into the similar coinciding guide in the stationary stack O. vFor the purpose of preventing the blanks from shooting out of the open end ofthe railway-guide in the separator, while the rear end of the latter is tipping downward to make connection with the stack,

ATEET EEICE;

a spring-check, p, is combined with the separator, and which is raised to allow the passage of blanks when the two sections ot' the railway-guide are in alignment, as shown at Fig. 2. The stack O is mounted on the top of a holder, O', for the nut while it is being threaded. This holder has an opening through it communicating with the passageway through the stack, as seen in section at Fig. 3, and is, in fact, a continuation of the stack, but is constructed of sufficient strength to enable it to resist the twisting strains incident to the working of the tap in cutting the thread in the nuts.

The next feature of myinvention consists of vthe means by which the finished nuts are discharged one by one. The devices to accomplish this are operated by the threading tap itself, so that it is certain that only blanks which have been entered by the threading-tap will be discharged. This mode of operation of the machine renders it unnecessary to inspect each nut, as would be required in case the operation of the discharger was not made dependent upon the tap. The whole column of blanks and one nished nut at the bottom ofthe column are supported, when the tap is not in action, byacheck bar or plate, q, Fig. 3. yThis check-bar is attached to one end of a rod, r, fitted to slide in ahole through the head-block P, to which the holder O is fastened, and in rear of the holder. The other end of the said rod is pivoted to the arm s of a bell-crank mounted on a post-standard, s1. The other arm s2 ofthe bell-crank is connected, bymeans of a coiled spring, t, with a staple set in the side ofthe head-block P. To the arm 82a rod, u, is pivoted. This rod enters the head-block P, and extends up to the column of nut-blanks in the holder, Fig. 2, and its axis should be coincident with the axis of the tap. The next blank which'is to be threaded, fu, Fig. 3, rests upon the blank which was last threaded, w, and this latter is supported by the check-rod q, the distance between the check and the under side of the blank c being just equal to the width of a blank.

It is obvious that with this construction of the machine the tap a, after it has passed through the hole in the blank e, will come into contact with the end of the rod u, whereby the bell-crank lever will be operated, and the check-rod q be moved away from beneath the previously-threaded blank w, when this drops from the machine. The column of blanks is,` at this time, supported by the nut fu, through which the tap a is inserted. As the tap nnscrews itself from the nut v the spring t acts to restore the check-rod to its former position, and when the tap is clear of the now iinished nut the latter falls into the holder, a distance equal to its width, and is followed by the col umn of blanks above it. All the above described operations are now repeated.

What I claim as my inveutionin this patent 1sl. The combination ofthe revolving dish M for containing nut-blanks in a mass', and the vibrating separator N, 4when the latter is constructed with a shovel end, m, a mortise, n, and guard o, substantially as described.

2. The combination ot' the vibrating mortised separator N with a stationary receivingstack and a spring-check, substantially as described.

3. The combination of the threading-tap a with the devices, substantially as described, for discharging the nuts one by one.

- 4. The combination and arrangement o f the threading-tap a with. the stack O and holder O for the nut-blanks, whereby the said tap, while threading the blank in the column of blanks next above the last threaded blank, shall support the whole column of blanks above the tap while the underlying nut is being discharged, substantially as specified.

SAML. L. WORSLEY. Witnesses:

THOMAS CosGRovE, J. C. B. WooDs. 

